2019 must be better

Around the world at the stroke of midnight yesterday there were fireworks and the sound of trumpets to symbolise victory, triumph and hope for the coming year, despite the challenges of the past year.

In Christendom, New Year’s Day is liturgically observed by some denominations as the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus.

With most countries using the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day has become, undoubtedly, the most celebrated day by most societies, with many observing it as a public holiday.

As we begin the year, as is usually the practice, many people have made their resolutions, in which they have resolved to change an undesirable behaviour to accomplish a personal goal or improve their lives.

The Daily Graphic believes that although New Year resolutions may not be fully fulfilled, they give us a focus to strive to achieve something better for ourselves and our nation.

It is in this vein that we encourage both individuals and the nation to make resolutions to stay away from lifestyles and traits that did not help us in the past year.

This is the time for leaderships at every level to resolve to place the interest of the country first before theirs and ensure that our society becomes better than it was the previous year.

We are certainly thrilled by the achievements of the government, such as the establishment of the Zongo Development Fund, the renewed vigour in agricultural activities, the issuance of national identification cards, the implementation of a National Property Digital Address System, the paperless ports system, the implementation of the Nation Builders Corps programme and the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme to provide support for entrepreneurs, among others.

But our admonition to the managers of the economy is not to rest on their laurels but continue to implement policies and programmes that will inch Ghana closer to sustainable development, while we encourage the government to do soul searching and look at other very important areas to improve the lives of the citizenry.

We make mention of the road network in the country that is terribly bad and our hope is that this year attention will be paid to that area.

We urge the authorities to also adopt innovative ways that will decongest the central business districts of towns and cities, as the number of hours commuters spend in traffic to conduct business there takes a heavy toll on the economy.

In the same way, we pray for attention to be paid to the health sector to address the problem of obsolete and inadequate tools and equipment, since the health of a nation has a direct correlation with its development.

We also note with satisfaction the referendum for new regions that has been successfully cleared. But we need no reminder that the burden is not over, as we must sustain the momentum to be able to effectively nurture the new regions to be on their feet.

The Daily Graphic also takes a cue from the admonition by former President Jerry John Rawlings to the country to ensure that we weed out corruption and indiscipline in order to experience true development in Ghana. The former President asked the relevant question when he wondered why democracy had worked for the Western world but seemed not to be working for our country.

We believe that the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the constitution of a Fiscal Council, coupled with a very proactive Auditor General, will see Ghanaians being more disciplined and aggressive in the fight against corruption this year.

We wish all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.